A man who was sexually abused by a disgraced Catholic monk has been given permission to continue his £5 million compensation action against his old boarding school.
Hugh Kennedy, 58, has instructed lawyers to sue two trustees of Fort Augustus Abbey school in the Highlands.
The Court of Session heard how Mr Kennedy was preyed upon by Fr Denis “Chrysostom” Alexander when he was a pupil at the school in the 1970s.
Lawyers for Mr Kennedy raised proceedings against the Right Reverend Paul Bonnici and Right Reverend James Madden.
However, their lawyers argued that the action against the trustees should be dismissed.
Lawyers acting for the two clerics said that the school had stopped operating 30 years ago and that the educational facility’s trust had wound up about a decade ago.
But in a judgement issued on Wednesday, judge Lady Wolffe concluded that the action should be allowed to continue.
She wrote: “I have held that the trustee defenders’ relevancy challenges are ill-founded and that critical matters affecting some of the legal foundations of the pursuer’s case require proof (eg the questions of whether the trustee defenders have been discharged or whether the Trust has been wound up).
“In this case, it is likely that a preliminary proof is the appropriate next step.”
Horrific crimes at prestigious school
The school was located at the southern end of Loch Ness. The monastery to which it had been attached was in operation for more than 100 years.
The Benedictine monks who lived there operated a prestigious fee-paying Catholic boarding school which was thought to be one of the best in the country.
Mr Kennedy enrolled as a boarder at the school in 1975. He was abused by Father Alexander and he also claims he was abused by two other lay teachers.
Fr Denis Alexander, also known as Fr Chrysostom, was an Australian priest who had arrived at Fort Augustus in the 1950s.
However, he used his position to abuse pupils. It took several years to bring him to justice.
Passing sentence, Lord Burns told him: “That abuse is aggravated by the age of your victims and position of trust and authority resulting from your status as a teacher and as a monk.
These vulnerable young boys were entrusted to your care and what you did was a gross abuse of the trust placed in you as a teacher.”
Speaking after Alexander’s conviction, Mr Kennedy told the BBC that the monk would call him to his room, where he would be told to take his pants down and he would cane his bare backside.
He said: “I used to ask him why he was doing this but he just told me to shut up.
“I was receiving inexplicable beatings. He once made me kneel against the wall for six hours – he was terrorising me.
“Then suddenly it turned around on a sixpence. The beatings stopped; I was put back on his social list, which meant special treats like toast in his office, and yoga lessons. I was even made head altar boy.
“But this was all part of the grooming process, just to get me used to saying yes to everything.”
During proceedings at the Court of Session, lawyers for Mr Kennedy said they believed their client was entitled to continue his compensation action.
Lawyers for the trustees wanted the action dismissed claiming that the lapse in time between the abuse taking place and the action being raised mean their clients wouldn’t get a fair hearing.
However, Lady Wolffe ruled in favour of Mr Kennedy’s lawyers.
She added: “It is right that I allow parties an opportunity to address the court on the scope of the preliminary proof to follow.”
